Episode 110: What makes Ramadan TV culture so special in the Arab world?

About this episode

The episode discusses the significance of Ramadan TV culture in the Arab world and its impact on media consumption and the Arabic language.

In this episode of Culture Bites, The National’s music and culture journalist Saeed Saeed is back, this time joining Enas Refaei to discuss Ramadan TV. Every year during the holy month, households across the Arab world tune in to watch the most popular comedies, dramas and talk shows of the season. Over time, networks – and now streaming platforms – have invested bigger budgets into Ramadan specials, as audiences spend more time watching television after iftar and late into the night. Enas and Saeed discuss how this cultural phenomenon became so dominant in the region and share some of the shows they’re looking forward to watching. The hosts also react to a recent marketing campaign by Egypt’s Diwan Publishing to encourage young people to read and write in Arabic. Classics by authors like Naguib Mahfouz and Taha Hussein were printed entirely in Franco-Arabic, colloquially known as “Arabizi” – a way of writing Arabic words using English letters. The campaign was meant to prompt concern over the loss of Arabic language. Enas and Saeed talk about Diwan’s previous project to make book covers more vibrant and attractive for the younger generation, and also how schools in the UAE are…

People in this episode

Host: Saeed Saeed

Guest: Enas Refaei

Topics covered

• Ramadan TV
• Arab culture
• media consumption
• Arabic language
• youth engagement
• streaming platforms

Keywords

• Ramadan TV
• Arab world
• comedy
• drama
• Arabic language
• Diwan Publishing
• Arabizi
• youth reading

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Egypt’s Diwan Publishing

Books & works: Naguib Mahfouz, Taha Hussein

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